Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Antics in Romania

Buna ziua dragi frati si surori. I dunno if my grammar is correct thar, but anyways, Hello brothers and sisters! Ce faceti? I hope you're doing well, and had a great Christmas! I certainly did. Let's talk about stuff.

SO this past week was the holidays, which meant a lot of fun. I got to do lots of fun things for Christmas time: Back on last Wednesday-Thursday, our zone got to go to Chisinau, Moldova for a Galati-Moldova Zone Christmas Extravaganza complete with a training meeting. It was a 2 day shpiel (thats a wierd word) full of travelling in freezing cold Maxi-Taxi's, getting through the border, arriving at the fancy villa (church building), eating lukewarm-delivered KFC, playing lots of board games, holiday games, singing Xmas hymns, feasting on the best honey baked ham of my life, holding a fireside/testimony meeting, staying in a fancy hotel, participating in a training meeting with role plays, going to a bustling piata (shops and stalls), and making the safe trip back "home" to Bacau. SNAP! It was fun, as you may imagine. That night, I also got a package from the Andreasen's with an awesome brown towel with "CTR" stitched in it. Va Multumesc!

The next day was Christmas Eve. Throughout the day, me, Elder Gunter, and the other elders went carolling to member's homes and gave them brownies. We also hung out at an investigator's house (Daniel). Then, I got to Skype with the parents for 2 hours! I am thankful for how perfectly it worked out for us. It's good to know that ya'll (mom and dad) are doing well and hopefully didn't have too lonely of a Christmas (going to Tom and Kim's condo should be fun). Then, we had a sleepover as a district!

The next day, Xmas day, was actually kinda boring compared to the previous days of the week. I had already opened my packages, went to Chisinau, and made the Skype call. So there wasn't much to do, except do more carolling and contacting at the blocs. We made those delicious "Idahoan" instant mashed taters and those cheese biscuits though. Thanks mom and dad! It was nice, though, to have a more relaxed Xmas day.

Yesterday, at church, 5 members came! Better than 2, but still meager. It was a great meeting. It wasn't really a Xmas program though, because we already did that at the branch party last Saturday. Also, the weather warmed up a little for Xmas day. All the snow and ice had melted by the end of the day. However, today, the snow started up again.

As for this week, and for New Year's, me and my district will visit a few members- Fratele (Brother) Iancu on Tuesday who is la tara (meaning in the countryside), and Sora Profira on New Year's Eve. Should be a fun week.

Elder Gunter and I are doing great still and are trying to focus on finding more people and getting investigators to come to church! Bacau is still awesome. It'll be exciting to start a new year here.

It's good to hear from home. I'm hoping you all had a great Christmas. Mom and dad, it was great to skype with you and get your email about how your Christmas went. I bet it was fun at the Andreasen's! What did you get for Xmas mom? How about you, Dad? How is the ward and work? I hope all is well. I got a short email from Elder Truman Rowley, and he is doing great in Chile.

Well, that was my holidays! I love Christmas time and the spirit it brings. I can't think of anything else to say for today. I wish you all a Happy New Year's. Sanatate si Doamne ajuta! Lurve y'all! I'll talk next week. La revedere!